Experiment With Babies - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations
From IELTS Practice Test Plus 1 Academic Listening Test 2 · Part 4 · Questions 31–40
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Questions
Questions 31–35 Note Completion
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Question: Can babies remember any 31 ?
Experiment with babies:
Apparatus: baby in cot
colourful mobile
some 32
Re-introduce mobile between one and 33 later.
Table showing memory test results
| Baby's age | Maximum memory span |
|---|---|
| 2 months | 2 days |
| 3 months | 34 |
| 21 months | several weeks |
| 2 years | 35 |
Questions 36–40 Note Completion
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS or A NUMBER for each answer.
Research questions:
Is memory linked to 36 development?
Can babies 37 their memories?
Experiment with older children:
Stages in incident:
a) lecture taking place
b) object falls over
c) 38
Table showing memory test results
| Age | % remembered next day | % remembered after 5 months |
|---|---|---|
| Adults | 70% | 39% |
| 9-year-olds | 70% | Less than 60% |
| 6-year-olds | Just under 70% | 40% |
Answers & Explanations Summary
| # | Answer | Evidence | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q31 | particular events / events | One of the first questions that we might ask is – do babies have any kind of episodic memory can they remember particular events |
Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript shows the speaker asking if infants are able to keep memories of specific things that have happened to them. Answer Explanation: The answer refers to specific things that happen at a certain time, which we want to know if babies can recall. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is based on the first major question the lecturer asks about baby memory. The lecturer explicitly asks if they can remember 'particular events' after mentioning 'episodic memory.' In the context of the notes, 'particular events' fits the question 'Can babies remember any...?' to show what researchers are trying to test. |
| Q32 | string | It's quite simple and involves a baby, in its cot, a colourful mobile and a piece of string | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that the experiment is easy to do and needs a baby sleeping in a small bed, a bright toy hanging above them, and a piece of string. Answer Explanation: The answer is the word "string," which refers to a thin, strong cord made of twisted fibers. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is based on the description of the experiment's apparatus (the tools or equipment used). The lecturer lists four items necessary for this test: a baby, a cot (a small bed for a baby), a colorful mobile (a hanging toy), and a piece of string. Since the notes already list the baby in a cot and the colorful mobile, "string" is the missing piece required to complete the list. |
| Q33 | 14 days / fourteen days | Then you remove the mobile for a time and re-introduce it some time from one to fourteen days later | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that researchers take the mobile away for a while and then show it to the baby again. This happens at any point from one day to fourteen days after it was first taken away. Answer Explanation: The answer means that the mobile used in the experiment was brought back to the baby after a period of time, with the longest wait being 14 days. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is based on the lecturer's description of a memory experiment involving a baby and a mobile. The speaker explains the process of removing the mobile and then bringing it back (re-introducing it) after a certain amount of time has passed. The speaker specifically mentions that this happens between 'one to fourteen days later'. Therefore, '14 days' correctly fills in the gap specifying the end of that time range. |
| Q34 | a fortnight / fortnight / 2 weeks / two weeks | If you look at this table of results at the top two rows you can see that what is observed shows that two-month-old babies can remember the trick for up to two days and three-month-old babies for up to a fortnight |
Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains the data from an experiment. It states that infants aged three months are able to keep a memory for as long as a fortnight (two weeks). Answer Explanation: The answer is 'fortnight' or 'two weeks'. This is the longest amount of time that a baby who is three months old can remember a task they learned. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is found by looking at the results the lecturer describes from a table. The lecturer compares different ages: babies who are two months old remember for two days, while babies who are three months old remember for 'a fortnight'. A 'fortnight' is a common British English word for a period of two weeks. |
| Q35 | six months / 6 months | And by the time they are two, some children's memories will stretch back over six months, though their recall will be random, with little distinction between key events and trivial ones and very few of these memories, if any, will survive into later life | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that once children are two years old, they are able to remember events from as far back as six months earlier. Answer Explanation: The answer "six months" means that children who are two years old can remember things that happened half a year ago. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is found in the section of the lecture discussing how long children of different ages can remember events. The lecturer specifically mentions that by the age of two, a child's memory can 'stretch back' for more than six months, though these memories might not be very clear or permanent. |
| Q36 | language | is that memory develops with language | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that one theory for how memory works is that it grows alongside the development of a child's ability to speak and use words. Answer Explanation: The answer refers to the system of communication involving words and speech that humans use. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is language because the lecturer discusses a theory that explains why memory improves as children get older. The lecturer specifically states that a key idea is that memory grows and gets better as a child's ability to use words (language) develops. |
| Q37 | retrieve / recall / recover | Though they may be capable of storing memories, do they have the ability to retrieve them | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript asks if babies have the skill to bring back the memories they have put into their minds. Answer Explanation: The answer means the ability to get back or find information that has been saved in the mind. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is based on a research question mentioned by the lecturer. While talking about how memory and language grow together, the lecturer explains that babies might be able to save (store) memories, but the real question is whether they can actually find or "retrieve" those memories later. |
| Q38 | an argument / argument | To add a third stage and make the recall more demanding, this 'accident' was then followed by an argument | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript states that to create a third part of the event for the test, they followed the accident with a verbal fight (an argument). Answer Explanation: The answer is the third event that happened during the experiment, which was a verbal fight or disagreement. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'argument' because the lecturer describes a memory experiment with three specific parts or stages. First, there was a lecture. Second, an object (the projector) fell over by accident. Finally, to make the test harder, the lecturer explains that a 'third stage' was added, which was an argument that happened immediately after the accident. |
| Q39 | 70 | In a memory test the following day, the adults and the nine-year-olds scored an average 70% and the six-year-olds did only slightly worse. In a retest five months later, the pattern was very different. The adults' memory recall hadn't changed | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that adults originally remembered 70% of what happened, and after five months passed, they still remembered the same amount of information. Answer Explanation: The answer is 70%, which is the percentage of information adults could remember five months after watching an event. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 70% because the transcript states that adults scored an average of 70% on the memory test the day after the event. When they were tested again five months later, the text mentions that the adults' recall 'hadn't changed', which means it remained at 70%. |
| Q40 | 40 | In a retest five months later, the pattern was very different. The adults' memory recall hadn't changed but the nine-year-olds' had slipped to less than 60% and the six-year-olds could manage little better than 40% | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that when testing the groups again after five months, adults remembered the same amount as before (70%), nine-year-olds remembered less than 60%, and six-year-olds remembered only about 40%. Answer Explanation: The answer is the percentage of information that six-year-old children were able to recall during a test five months after an event took place. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 40% because the lecturer describes the results of a memory retest conducted five months after a staged incident. While older groups remembered more, the youngest group (the six-year-olds) saw their memory drop significantly, being able to remember only slightly more than 40% of the details. The term 'little better than' is used here to indicate the percentage was very close to 40%. |
Transcript
Lecturer: We're going to look today at some experiments that have been done on memory in babies and young children.
Our memories, it's true to say, work very differently depending upon whether we are very old, very young or somewhere in the middle. But when exactly do we start to remember things and how much can we recall?
One of the first questions that we might ask is – do babies have any kind of episodic memory ... can they remember particular events? Obviously, we can't ask them, so how do we find out?
Well, one experiment that's been used has produced some interesting results. It's quite simple and involves a baby, in its cot, a colourful mobile and a piece of string. It works like this. If you suspend the mobile above the cot and connect the baby's foot to it with the string the mobile will move every time the baby kicks. Now you can allow time for the baby to learn what happens and enjoy the activity. Then you remove the mobile for a time and re-introduce it some time from one to fourteen days later.
If you look at this table of results ... at the top two rows ... you can see that what is observed shows that two-month-old babies can remember the trick for up to two days and three-month-old babies for up to a fortnight. And although babies trained on one mobile will respond only if you use the familiar mobile, if you train them on a variety of colours and designs, they will happily respond to each one in turn.
Now, looking at the third row on the table, you will see that when they learn to speak, babies as young as 21 months demonstrate an ability to remember events which happened several weeks earlier. And by the time they are two, some children's memories will stretch back over six months, though their recall will be random, with little distinction between key events and trivial ones and very few of these memories, if any, will survive into later life. So we can conclude from this that even very tiny babies are capable of grasping and remembering a concept.
So how is it that young infants can suddenly remember for a considerably longer period of time? Well, one theory accounting for all of this – and this relates to the next question we might ask – is that memory develops with language. Very young children with limited vocabularies are not good at organising their thoughts. Though they may be capable of storing memories, do they have the ability to retrieve them? One expert has suggested an analogy with books on a library shelf. With infants, he says, 'it is as if early books are hard to find because they were acquired before the cataloguing system was developed'.
But even older children forget far more quickly than adults do. In another experiment, several six-year-olds, nine-year-olds and adults were shown a staged incident. In other words, they all watched what they thought was a natural sequence of events. The incident went like this ... a lecture which they were listening to was suddenly interrupted by something accidentally overturning, in this case it was a slide projector. To add a third stage and make the recall more demanding, this 'accident' was then followed by an argument. In a memory test the following day, the adults and the nine-year-olds scored an average 70% and the six-year-olds did only slightly worse. In a retest five months later, the pattern was very different. The adults' memory recall hadn't changed but the nine-year-olds' had slipped to less than 60% and the six-year-olds could manage little better than 40%.
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